The jockeying has begun in the first round of "woah-is-me" efforts to jack up our taxes in the midst of a horrific recession.
Our democrat State Auditor, Brian Sonntag, identified over $3 BILLION in misspent, lost, or illegally spent taxpayer dollars over 5 years ago... and has a similar report prepared for 2008... a report that if fully implemented, would save $3.6 BILLION, but none of his initiaitives have been acted on. If the legislature would just use his report and his audit findings as a blueprint, many of the more painful cuts could be borne with little discomfort, and this nonsensical concept of jacking up our taxes in the midst of a recession would normally be off the table.
Well, as normally as avoiding taxes can be when fringe-leftists are in charge of the government's purse strings.
Democrats have already positioned themselves to relieve their typical union masters of a great deal of the financial burden required to shill this tax increase vote, instead, prefering to use OUR TAX DOLLARS to campaign for this idiocy.
So... what gets cut?
"That includes about $500 million less in higher education spending. Schools would be given latitude in deciding where to find the savings, but here's one way to put it in perspective: That half-billion pays for about 10,000 students."HHhhmmmm.... that's kinda odd. I'm not 100% sure, since I'm a Seattle Public Schools student, but isn't 10,000 divided into $500,000,000 something like... well, $50,000.... per student?
How can we POSSIBLY be spending that much on each student? How is that even in the realm of this dimension?
Brown said the Senate likely will seek to cut the Basic Health Plan for poorer Washingtonians by about $250 million, close to the level envisioned in Gregoire's budget.With The One demanding cradle-to-grave "free medical" care for everyone from the Fed, this probably isn't a bad move. Of course, implementing restrictions against illegal expenditures for illegal aliens might save a few million or so.
That "safety net" program, commonly called GA-U, gives cash and medical care to disabled people who can't work. It likely will be cut by about $200 million under the Senate plan, Brown said, with the savings spread between the cash payouts and medical care.Bull. This is a non-starter, and just the first shot fired across the bow for the hearts and flowers "jack your taxes" campaign.
For those truly in need of GA-U, not one dime should be cut. ALL of this money should come out of state employees (lay offs an pay reductions). That it isn't...
Let's remember: The $8 BILLION growth in the budget over the past 4 years has been unsustainable from the get-go... Republicans in the Leg have been warning through each and every budget that the huge increases in spending our democrat leaders have imposed have not been sustainable.
Expect much deeper and much more painful cuts than the one's announced in this article... there are many more to come.
Because if there isn't, there is no way in hell they can shill this enough to get people to buy off on it.
I'm reminded of the recent local school bonds and levies that went down to abysmal defeat like dominoes.
There is nothing compelling here to risk the massive economic impacts to a fragile economy.
But I would bet there will be. Because this isn't enough pain. I know it, and they know it.
State's higher-ed system to get $500M budget cut
Washington's higher education system would see almost $500 million in cuts and public school teachers likely would face layoffs under the Senate's proposed budget, the Senate's top Democrat said.
OLYMPIA — The state would cut almost $500 million from Washington's higher-education system, and public-school teachers likely would face layoffs under the Senate's proposed budget, the Senate's top Democrat said.
Depending on how colleges and universities handle those cuts, "it guarantees enrollment reductions that are fairly significant," Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said Thursday, just days before the Senate's budget is formally unveiled.
In a separate interview, Brown said the proposed two-year budget would eliminate pay increases for teachers and state workers, and would leave around $850 million in reserve in case the economy gets even worse.
Overall, the budget would reduce state spending by $3.7 billion below what's needed to maintain existing services and pay for caseload increases and other costs, she said.
The cuts would be felt by the general public, Brown said, noting that "people will definitely notice fewer (higher-education) slots, more intense competition to get into universities. I believe there will be, unfortunately, teacher layoffs."
Brown's comments, paired with separate statements Thursday from House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, provided some of the most detailed glimpses yet of how the Legislature's long-awaited budgets may look.
In her no-new-taxes budget proposal in December, Gov. Chris Gregoire suggested about $342 million in cuts to higher education.
That amounted to net state spending cuts of about 13 percent across the board for four-year schools, and about 6 percent for community and technical colleges, after factoring in higher tuition.
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